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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Drug Related (Possession or sale) |
Sentence: |
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Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
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Year Convicted: |
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Year Cleared: |
2018 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Massachusetts |
County or Region of Crime: |
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City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Sonja Farak who worked for eight years as a chemist testing drugs at the Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory in Amherst, was arrested on January 19, 2013 and charged with tampering with evidence at the crime lab and drug offenses. Farak admitted to stealing drugs from cases in the lab's evidence locker to support her drug addiction. She also admitted to being high virtually every day she was on the job from 2005 to her arrest in 2013. Farak was indicted on April 1, 2013 for tampering with evidence, stealing drugs, and possession of illegal substances. On January 6, 2014 Farak pled guilty to tampering with evidence; larceny of controlled substances from a dispensary; and, unlawful possession of a controlled substance. She was sentenced to 30 months in prison (18 months to be served with the balance suspended for five years of good behavior.) Farak was released from prison in 2015. Two prosecutors were found to have committed prejudicial prosecutorial misconduct during the investigation in an effort to cover up what Farak's conduct. As of September 25, 2019 more than 24,000 drug conviction in 16,449 cases tainted by Farak had been dismissed in a court case brought by the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Boston, the Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union, and the law firm of Fick & Marx. The first of the legal actions brought by the consortium was on September 20, 2017 when they filed a petition in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for an order to vacate the convictions of everyone whose drug certification was signed by Farak. On April 5, 2018 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice Frank Gaziano signed a Declaratory Judgment with the consent of the Massachusetts Attorney General and eleven District Attorneys that vacated 11,162 convictions in 7,690 cases and ordered their dismissal with prejudice in which the prosecution was based on a drug certificate signed by Sonja Frank. 300 of the cases involved a juvenile. Justice Gaziano's order stated: "Accordingly, it is ORDERED that the convictions of drug offenses under G. L. 94C that have been so identified by the respondents in the interim lists filed with this court on or before March 30,2018, shall be and are hereby VACATED AND DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE, and any outstanding warrants associated with those convictions are recalled." The 11,162 convictions included the following numbers of juvenile and district court convictions vacated: 6,110 in Hampden County; 1,982 in Northwestern district (1,369 in Hampshire and 613 in Franklin Counties); 889 in Berkshire County; 854 Worcester County; 442 in Bristol County; 272 in Essex County; 216 in Middlesex County; 197 in Suffolk County; 94 in Norfolk County; 57 in Plymouth County; and 49 in the Cape and Islands (44 in Barnstable, 3 in Dukes, and 2 in Nantucket County)." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On April 5, 2018 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice Frank Gaziano signed a Declaratory Judgment with the consent of the Massachusetts Attorney General and eleven District Attorneys that vacated 11,162 convictions in 7,690 cases in which the prosecution was based on a drug certificate signed by Sonja Frank." |
Defendant Aided By: |
"The state’s public defenders (the Committee for Public Counsel Services), ACLU of Massachusetts, and the law firm Fick & Marx." |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
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Age When Released: |
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Information Source 1: |
"Judge’s Order Formally Dismisses 11,000 Drug Convictions Linked To Sonja Farak, By Katie Lannan, NEPR.net, April 5, 2018" |
Information Location 1: |
http://nepr.net/post/judge-s-order-formally-dismisses-11000-drug-convictions-linked-sonja-farak#stream/0 |
Information Source 2: |
"Committee For Public Counsel Services, Hampden County Lawyers For Justice, Inc., Herschelle Reaves, and Nicole Westcott vs. Attorney General of Massachusetts, District Attorney for Berkshire County, District Attorney for Bristol County, District Attorney for the Cape and Islands, District Attorney for Essex County, District Attorney for Hampden County, District Attorney for Middlesex County, District Attorney for Norfolk County, District Attorney for the Northwestern District, District Attorney for Plymouth County, District Attorney for Suffolk County, and District Attorney for Worcester County, No. SJ-2017-347 (Supreme Judicial Court For Suffolk County, 4-5-2018) (Declaratory Judgment vacating 11,162 convictions in 7,690 cases that were ordered dismissed with prejudice.)" |
Information Location 2: |
https://aclum.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2018_4_5-Declaratory-Judgment.pdf |
Information Source 3: |
"6,000 drug cases to be dismissed after misconduct by chemist, prosecutors, By Shawn Musgrave (Globe Correspondent), Boston Gobe, November 30, 2017" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/11/30/more-than-drug-cases-dismissed-after-misconduct-chemist-and-former-prosecutors/C9cWcNDn34axTv8mXRLB9O/story.html?et_rid=668735307&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter |
Information Source 4: |
"Committee for Public Counsel Services, Hampden County Lawyers For Justice, Inc., Herschelle Reaves, and Nicole Westcott v. Attorney General of Massachusetts, et al., No. SJ-2017 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 9-20-2017) (Petition Seeking Relief Pursuant To G.L. c. 211, § 3, and c. 231A, § 1)" |
Information Location 4: |
https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/mass-farak.pdf |
Information Source 5: |
"More than 24,000 drug convictions dismissed in cases tainted by former state chemist, By Frank O'Laughlin (Sfaff reporter), Channel 7 News (Boston, MA), September 25, 2019" |
Information Location 5: |
https://whdh.com/news/more-than-24000-drug-convictions-dismissed-in-cases-tainted-by-former-state-chemist/ |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org